Originally Posted by
BlueHorseShoe2000
As cwe84 mentioned, Republic does have a heavy maintenance facility in Columbus.
Besides the obvious financial impact, part of the decision surrounding where the Frontier jobs end-up may have to do with the ability to rotate aircraft in-and-out of the airport. Frontier has no service to either PIT or CMH. Midwest does, but neither route requires the frequency/capacity of an E190 or Airbus on a regular basis. Of course, both cities could be added from DEN but would hardly make sense if the only reason was to have aircraft serviced. Looking at it from this standpoint, MKE and IND make the most sense.
If you believe what has been reported in the media, Indiana has apparently but together a comprehensive package of economic incentives to lure all of those jobs to the state. Indiana has been very aggressive in encouraging businesses to either relocate or expand in the state and has had some pretty notable successes in recent years. Plus, they can afford to dish out money as Indiana is one of the few states currently operating in the black.
Milwaukee definately has a number of advantages to offer Republic, but I certainly wouldn't say they are the front-runner.
Without getting too political here ever since former Wisconsin Governor Lee Dreyfus said the state should never have a surplus, that very statement has given all aspects of Wisconsin Government the license to keep spending and running a deficit. God rest Lee's soul, but he should have never said that. I think running a surplus would give us wiggle room in offering incentives to companies to locate here and probably would keep taxes from going up year after year. With that said, I agree Milwaukee and Wisconsin have a disadvantage when competing with a state like Indiana for jobs based on taxes and infrastructure alone. But if Republic brings jobs to Milwaukee it will boost the Midwest brand and foster more loyalty to fly Midwest. Just my two cents.